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So, I'm lookin for some sage input for the following:
-PSU: ~750W or so for multi-GPU | I haven't built a rig in 5 or 6 yrs (was a loyal PCP&C guy)
-GPU: gotta be able to game on high-res - prob just get a single good card now (will use an old secondary GPU for third monitor) prefer nvidia-based cards and software (mostly from familiarity)
-CPU cooler under $50 - quiet but can handle moderate overclocking attempts

Seconding Shinma on the CM Hyper 212 Evo for CPU cooling, it's really hard to beat for the price.

As for the GPU, which monitor resolution do you have or intend to get ? Also like Shinma said, giving us a budget range for the GPU will help to narrow it down (if you don't have a budget just get a GTX580 already )

Within that budget you're pretty much in the range of the GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores (a limited edition model which is basically a slightly cut down 570, closer to the 570 in performance than a standard 560 Ti) or if you catch a sale, a GTX 570 after rebates.

As for the brands I'm not much in the know about those for nVidia so perhaps someone else will chime in, but usually eVGA and MSI are well regarded.

Could get a 560 Ti 448 core for $255 after mail-in, but here's the hitch facing my rationale: fried my Evga GTX 280 (along with my mobo), so I just want whatever I get to replace it to be noticeably better, not the best.
I'm also thinking that, should I want to revisit SLi in the future for a performance boost with minimal investment, I should look for a card that could be fairly cheap, and perhaps most importantly, available in a year (give-or-take).

___not sure if any of that made sense___

btw - I rarely get time, but when I do, I currently play Crysis 2 or COD Black Ops ( 1680 x 1050)

Well, if you don't use your 3 screens for gaming and only one at 1680x1050, a standard GTX 560 Ti would do fine, though I don't know firsthand how much better it is than the 280. I also have a 1680x1050 monitor with the equivalent card of the 560 Ti on the AMD side (6950) and it is well enough for me.

Maybe a 570 would be worth it for future-proofing a bit if your budget allows, or you could just get a 560 Ti and do SLI later if you need/want it.

Still you brought a good point: if you intend to do SLI later, a 560 Ti 448 Cores is not a good bet as they probably won't be available later this year unless you buy one used.

I did not find any benchmarks with the 280 vs 560 Ti, the closest I found was this one on Anandtech Bench with Crysis Warhead and the non-Ti 560 (a bit slower than a 560 Ti) vs a 285.

For work, I recently spec/built 4 systems using the Radeon HD 7970. I set them up with AMD Eyefinity so I can output a single video to 3 HD TV's (video resolution is 5760x1080). The Eyefinity basically turns what would be three desktops into a single giant desktop stretched across three screens. The difference may not seem obvious, but most software tries to run within a single display. Eyefinity allows things to run on multiple displays seamlessly.

The same technique can be applied to gaming, although I've not had the opportunity to try it.

Something to note though, the cables can be a right pain in the rear. You're outputting from DisplayPorts which are awesome, but there's hardly any hardware that supports them yet. Because of that, you need to use adapters to convert them to DVI, but you need very specific active adapters if you want any hope of making Eyefinity work. The adapters that ship with the cards themselves have been the most reliable.

I tried some 3rd party "active" adapters and they failed miserably. Eyefinity wouldn't even present itself as an option with those attached.

Your listed components, plus your references to the SSD and (4) HDDs... and capacitor aging factor of 30&#37; for running 24/7,
Even if you were to add a second GeForce GTX 560 Ti...
You would not exceed the 750W.

If slightly higher noise level is not an issue,
The XFX Pro750W XXX Edition has 80 Plus Silver certification, which is slightly better than Seasonic's own M12 II's Bronze cert.